Maded Batara (Grade 11, Philippine Science High School) says…

Being at the IOI in Kazan was a great experience. Not only did it open up my eyes to how amazing the world of competitive programming is, but it also made me appreciate the culture and people of Russia are. It was an eye-opening experience, and I’d definitely train more to get into next year’s IOI and get a medal.

Ian Palabasan (Grade 10, Rizal National Science High School) says…

For me, IOI 2016 in Kazan, Russia was, compared to last year’s in Almaty, Kazakhstan, more well organised but had less activities. My favourite part of the trip was the Medieval fair thing where we tried our hands at different skills like pottery, smithy, and fencing, while the most stressful were the quarantine periods where we did nothing. Judging by the preformance this year compared to last year’s, it seems that the PH team needs more training, more available materials and resources, and more time to improve and mature.

Robin Yu (Grade 12, Xavier School) says…

The IOI has become one of the events I most look forward to every year. There’s nothing like representing your country in an event where the best of the best minds from each country meet, and for something I love doing, no less. Indeed the best part of the IOI is not the excursions or the delicious food, but the thrill of the competition, the feeling of being among the best and representing your country in such a grand and anticipated event. Of course, being able to see that I am far from the best, and seeing all the other skilled and talented minds is a great motivator to push myself to study harder and get better at programming.

For sure, I am not the best or most talented programmer in the Philippines; I was just very lucky to have been introduced to the NOI.PH early. I hope that, with the help of sponsors, we would be able to discover and cultivate more great raw talent who may not have the financial freedom to practice and compete, and better represent the Philippines in future such international competitions.

Do you want to be the national representatives for the next IOI? Go to the registration page for NOI.PH! Your journey begins there.

Filipino students brought home the country’s second bronze medal from one of the most prestigious computer science competitions in the world, proving for the second time that our local homegrown students can compete alongside all the other nations.

Robin Yu, competing as a Grade 11 student from Xavier School, won bronze at the recently concluded International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) held in Kazan, Russia. He managed to get a perfect score of 100 for Detecting Molecules (Day 1) and Paint By Number (Day 2). Including the partial scores for both days, he was able to obtain an impressive 257 points for the whole competition. This feat earns him his second bronze medal for the IOI.

Farrell Wu, on the other hand, competed as a Grade 11 student from MGC New Life Christian Academy. He managed to score 190 points for the whole competition.

The younger participants among the four were Maded Batara III, a Grade 10 student from the Philippine Science High School – Main Campus and also a first-timer, and Ian Palabasan, competing as a Grade 9 student from Rizal National Science High School. Both accumulated a total of 72 points each across all the problems given during the competition.

The four students were accompanied by team leader Kevin Atienza and deputy team leader Payton Yao, both prominent local figures in the national competitive programming scene. The students were coached by Kevin Atienza, Payton Yao, and Jared Asuncion.

This is only the second time that a Philippine delegation was sent to represent the country in the International Olympiad in Informatics – and the second time our delegates have reaped awards for our country. This year, a total of 324 participants from 88 countries registered to the Olympiad. Among the countries represented are China, Russia, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, the US, Australia and the Philippines.

The students were sponsored by local tech companies 24/7 International, Bitstop Networking Services, Custom Thread, D&L Industries, Inc., Pointwest Technologies Corporation, Smart Communications and Thinking Machines Data Science. The organizing team would also like to thank Tonette Rivera for her help.

The Philippine delegation to the IOI were chosen among the top students who joined the third annual National Olympiad in Informatics – Philippines (NOI.PH 2016). The organizing committee for the NOI.PH is composed mainly of UP graduates. who were once participants and winners of university-level programming contests. They volunteer each year to organize the NOI and IOI so that students can experience the joys of competitive programming at an earlier age. NOI.PH was started by Martin Gomez and Wilson Chua back in 2014, with similar goals.

Robin Yu brought home the first IOI medal last year and has been training in programming for the past few years. He spends most of his time training mostly through self-study. However, he never hesitates to ask for the help of the NOI.PH Scientific Committee on the rare occassion that he gets stuck. Apart from NOI.PH, he has placed in a lot of online competitions he joined at his own volition. He also joined Google Code Jam, where he placed third, just under Kevin and Payton, in one round among all the Filipino competitors. People say he is a creative thinker, probably because his height offers him a different perspective of the world.

Farrell Wu is named as one of the Ten Smartest Kids in the World by The Business Insider in 2013. He has garnered awards in a number of global competitions, including the prestigious International Math Olympiad (IOI) and the Australian Mathematics Competition where he aced all the questions. He was granted Filipino citizenship status thru House Bill 4073 early last year after he expressed desire to be a full-fledged Filipino. He brought a stuffed penguin during the IOI because he likes penguins. And perhaps stuffed toys too.

Maded Batara, coached by Edge Angeles, hails from Iligan City and has been training with us for the last two years. Starting Grade 1, he has placed in the MTAP division finals for six consecutive years. Aside from the NOI, he has also participated in and won other several technology related competitions such as the Ateneo Programming Open and the Grace IT Quiz Bee. Even though he is quite young, he is very organized and was responsible for coordinating a couple of team selfies during the IOI (as per the request of the organizing committee).

Ian Palabasan is a self-proclaimed addict in C++, a programming language. He has participated in several programming competitions held in Ateneo and FEU coincidentally with some his other competitors from the NOI. He is a fan of Undertale, a role-playing game about refusing to give up. This is why during the IOI, he was filled with determination.

Now that you know all about the Philippines’ representatives to the IOI 2016, let’s see what they have to say about their IOI experience.

The NOI.PH 2016 National Finals was held in De La Salle Lipa. It consisted of two rounds on-site, each of which consisted of four problems.

NOI.PH Finals Round 1

Almost all our participants finished the first subtask of 1A: A Simple Problem!, each giving them eight points. Ian Vincent Palabasan (Rizal National Science High School), Franz Louis Cesista (Philippine Science High School – Eastern Visayas Campus), and Joaquin Jose Lopez (Philippine Science High School – Main Campus) scored the first two subtasks. Proving that is indeed a simple problem was Robin Yu (Xavier School) finishing all subtasks and getting 100 points for it. Participants seem to really really really really really really like 1B: Confidential Message since most of them scored at least 32 points for answering the first two subtasks. Robin went above and beyond and finished the next two subtasks too, netting him a total of 72 points. Three participants scored a perfect 100 for 1D: Pabebe Girl Cuts Cake. Truly, hindi sila napigilan until the system told them tama na ‘yan after submitting their code. Finally, only one participant attempted 1C: The King and Queen of Rock and Roll. Robin Yu was the only one to submit code for this problem, and it was code that succesfully treated all subtasks. This nets him another 100 points.

NOI.PH Finals Round 2

Robin and Farrell did not make us paasa since they both got a perfect score in 2A: Paasa Numbers. In addition, Robin, Franz and Farrell kept cruising and can’t stop won’t stop coding until they also managed to get a perfect score in 2B: Shake It Off. The participants, though, had a little trouble with 2C: Candles For Everyone as no one managed to pass any subtask beyond the second. Finally, Robin impresses us again one final time this year, as he was the only contestant to score in 2D: Goodbye, Awkward Goodbyes!, managing to finish all but the last subtask.

Final Message

Congratulations to all the winners of the National Olympiad in Informatics – Philippines 2016 Finals!

We thank our hosts De La Salle Lipa, the Province of Batangas, and Batangas Vice-Governor Mark Leviste; our partners Bitstop Network Services Inc. and HackerRank; our friends at the Science Education Institute – Department of Science and Technology and the Office of President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy); and most especially the sponsoring government agency of this event, the Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO).

Do you want to have a chance to compete in the International Olympiad in Informatics? Register for the next NOI.PH now!

The NOI.PH 2016 National Eliminations was divided into three sets of four problems each.

NOI.PH Online Round 1

Farrell Wu (MGC New Life Christian Academy) managed to put together 68 points in 1A: Putogethers and 78 points in 1C: The Holiday School Play. This makes him the top scorer for these two problems. Meanwhile, Robin Yu (Xavier School), managed to run up the scoreboard by geting a perfect score in 1B: 런데빌런. Six people attempted 1D: Dishes, How We Do It? Unfortunately, none of the contestants were able to show us how to do it.

NOI.PH Online Round 2

The Christmas spirit clearly was with Chryz Than Wolf Chavez (Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus), scoring 60 on 2A: Christmas at NAIA. Meanwhile, Ian Vincent Palabasan (Rizal National Science High School) and Andrea Jaba (Saint Jude Catholic School) scored 32 on 2B: HeKaSerye. It is believed they scored sa tamang panahon. Ian managed to get a perfect score in 2C: Meteor Garden Garden. You really can’t help falling in love with that kind of score! Robin Yu tied with everyone above for the highest score in the first three problems. However, among the eight who attempted 2D: Balikbayan Boxes, he was the only one to bring home any score. Not just any score, he scored a perfect hundred! We hope scores don’t get taxed too!

NOI.PH Online Round 3

Almost everybody was 3A: Kung-Fu Fighting since a lot of the contestants attempted it. Farrell, Ian, Ron Mikhael Surara (Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus) and Joaquin Jose Lopez (Philippine Science High School – Main Campus) would have made Master Shifu proud for scoring 22 points in that problem. Moreover, Farrell swooped in and scored 24 points in 3B: Fast As Lightning. Living up to its name, 3C: A Little Bit Frightening managed to scare away most of the participants, save for nine brave souls who attempted it. Farrell, Andrea, Shaquille Wyan Que (Grace Christian College) and two eighth-graders Rae Gabriel Samonte (Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus) and Jed Arcilla (Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus), manged to score 56 points on 3D: Expert Timing.